Simon thinks he’ll sign a deal to return for American Idol 3 in a week.

Simon thinks he’ll sign a deal to return for American Idol 3 in a week. Appearing on Howard Stern’s radio show, Simon Cowell said he wanted $10 million to return for American Idol 3–but later retracted that, telling the New York Daily News, “If he had said $50 million, I would have said yes.” Although he says “I’m not trying to cash out at this point,” Simon also compared (and later quasi-retraced the comparison) the show to Friends and its high-paid cast, saying “[t]here’s only a cast of four on” Idol. Finally, however, he tells the paper, “I can honestly say I haven’t got a clue to what the figure is. My gut feeling is we’re going to do a deal.”

about Andy Dehnart

Andy Dehnart is a journalist who has covered reality television for more than 15 years and created reality blurred in 2000. A member of the Television Critics Association, his writing and criticism about television, culture, and media has appeared on NPR and in Playboy, Buzzfeed, and many other publications. Andy, 37, also directs the journalism program at Stetson University in Florida, where he teaches creative nonfiction and journalism. He has an M.F.A. in nonfiction writing and literature from Bennington College. More about reality blurred and Andy.

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reality blurred exists to cover television's most under-appreciated genre, reality TV, with original reporting, analysis, criticism, and curated information. It's edited by Andy Dehnart.
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